The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 274 Want to use the door to peek at someone? (5000)

As soon as Lu Yuan uttered the words "We'll see," the cellar fell into an eerie silence.

It wasn't a completely peaceful stillness; rather, it was like the dark cloud hanging overhead before a storm, so thick and suffocating that you didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

The oil lamp flame flickered upwards, its tongue trembling slightly, casting a long shadow in the corner and making the withered, pale face of the iron abacus appear even more bluish-white.

The black wooden plaque broke on the ground, and the fine white lines on the broken surface seemed to come alive, shrinking inwards one by one.

In the end, only the tiny black dot in the middle remained, so dark and heavy, like a dead eyeball nailed deep into the wood.

Lu Yuan glanced at the black dot, said nothing more, and straightened up.

He was covered in sweat, his back was soaked through, his clothes clung to his body, and a cold wind blew, chilling him to the bone.

But he stood firm, his gaze steady, still maintaining his commanding presence, making it clear to anyone that this was a time when things couldn't be chaotic.

"Cheng'an, go and pry off that brick by the door."

"Second Brother, take some soot and wipe that face print in the crack of the door, don't leave any shiny side."

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"Zhou Heng, drag the abacus to the east wall, away from this viewpoint."

"Qinghe, don't turn off your light. Just shine it on the ground, don't look up."

As soon as he finished speaking, the group immediately took action.

Upon hearing this, Wang Cheng'an quickly squatted down and started picking at the loose brick by the door. The brick had been soaked in salt and cinnabar and was already brittle; it foamed as soon as he touched it.

There was a dark layer of soil underneath, mixed with bits of grass roots. Only after digging it out did we see that there was a broken iron nail buried inside.

It was rusted red, and there were still a few strands of blackened hemp thread wrapped around the nail.

"Brother Lu, why is this nail buried here?"

Wang Chengan was holding that thing, and his hands were a little clumsy.

Lu Yuan glanced at it and said calmly, "Put down the door nails."

"This house wasn't originally intended for living; it was used to suppress negative energy."

"In the early days, the iron abacus guarded the other side and used this thing to firmly seal the door."

"Now that he's dead, the nails have come loose, and only then do people inside and outside the door dare to stand so defiantly."

As he spoke, his brow furrowed slightly, as if he were going over the whole matter in his mind again.

The wet face outside the door, the eye socket on the ground, and the newly emerged, gaunt old face imprint inside the door panel.

Even the pubic hair in the pottery jar didn't just pop out in one go.

They are all a string, and the abacus is just a loose knot at the end of the string.

Now that the slipknot has broken, all the dirty stuff hidden in the thread has started to show.

Xu Erxiao held the black ash, half-squatting in front of the door. He dipped his finger in it and smeared it down along the face imprint on the door panel.

The facial mark was originally quite clear; the brow bone, bridge of the nose, and mouth crease were all visible.

But once the black ash is applied, it's as if something under the skin has been covered with cloth, and the outline slowly shrinks inward.

However, occasionally, there would be two soft "click" sounds from inside the door, as if some thin fingernails were scratching at the wood.

"Second Little One, don't stop."

Lu Yuandao said, "Apply it thicker."

"If it wants to peek through the door, it has to be made unable to see first."

"Yes," Xu Erxiao replied quickly, wiping faster and faster with his hands.

His hands were covered in black ash, and even half of his cuffs were smeared with it, making him look like someone who had crawled out of a small stove pit.

Zhou Heng's side is the most difficult.

Iron Abacus's body was not light, especially now that it was completely cold, his bones felt like they were filled with lead, making it exceptionally heavy to drag.

Zhou Heng and Wang Cheng'an, one grabbing the shoulder and the other dragging the leg, forcibly pulled the corpse towards the east wall.

Tie Suanpan's face was deathly pale, his mouth was still half open, and the spot where Lu Yuan had pierced through him had frozen in place.

But its eyes were still rolled upwards, exuding a sinister aura of unrepentant death.

As Zhou Heng dragged his feet, he couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "That old bastard, even in death he can't find peace of mind."

Wang Chengan was panting heavily when his foot slipped, and he almost tripped over Tie Suanpan's trouser leg.

"Say less and hurry up and lift it." He said in a low voice, "Didn't you hear Brother Lu say, keep it away from your eyes and mouth?"

"If it recognizes the corpse energy again, it will be a real problem."

The two finally managed to move the body to the east wall. Lu Yuan glanced at it again before nodding.

"Don't let your heels touch the ground."

"His path to death isn't completely closed yet; his mouth and eyes down there still recognize the way."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Heng immediately took a rag and wrapped it around Tie Suanpan's ankles, forcibly lifting his feet half an inch off the ground.

Although the movements were rough, they managed to stay steady.

After all that fuss in the house, the previous gloomy atmosphere was finally suppressed.

But just as this section was pressed down, a very faint sound suddenly came from outside the door.

"Thump."

It wasn't knocking, nor did it look like it was banging on the door.

It sounded like someone in the courtyard was gently tapping the stone steps outside the door with their fingernail.

Everyone froze at the same time.

Lu Yuan's gaze darkened, and he turned to look towards the door.

The door was made of old wooden planks, the kind covered with oiled paper windows, so you couldn't see clearly from the outside.

But now, peeking through the crack in the door by the light, one can vaguely see a thin layer of darkness outside.

It was as if someone was standing at the door, not in a hurry to come in, nor in a hurry to leave, just waiting quietly.

"here we go again?"

Wang Chengan said in a low voice.

Lu Yuan raised his hand to signal him to be quiet, then slowly walked to the door and pressed his ear against it.

There was complete silence outside the door.

After a while, a very faint and slow hiss drifted in through the crack in the door.

The voice was muffled, like water in the mouth or mud stuck in the throat; it was hard to hear clearly, yet it sent shivers down one's spine.

Lu Yuan straightened up, not even lifting his eyelids, and said coldly, "It's gone."

"

"We've changed the entrance; we'll wait outside first."

Lin Zhaoxuan frowned: "You mean, that face outside the door isn't quite dead yet?"

"It's hard to say whether it's completely dead or not," Lu Yuan said. "But neither it nor the underground eye dares to confront it directly right now."

"If they keep banging on the door now, things will get really messed up inside."

"It's waiting for us to breathe a sigh of relief first."

Song Qinghe's face turned pale upon hearing this. She tightened her grip on the lamp and whispered, "Then—then do we just have to endure it?"

Lu Yuan nodded, his voice not loud, but steady: "Endure."

"Stay up until dawn."

"As soon as the rooster crows and the yang energy rises, this couple has to take a break."

As he spoke, he glanced up at the oil lamp in the room.

The wick burned thin, yet the flame remained steady. The firelight shone on the corner of the wall, making the corpse of the iron abacus and the broken wooden plaque appear as if covered with a thin layer of frost.

Lu Yuan paused for a moment, then said, "But before that, we need to clean up the air in the room first."

"Zhou Heng, go and seal the cracks in the window."

"Cheng'an, take that basin of cold water from the head of the kang (heated brick bed) outside, don't put it inside."

"Second Brother, sprinkle another layer of salt on the doorstep, don't worry about wasting it."

"Qinghe, move the lamp to the table, don't put it on the floor."

The group quickly did as instructed.

Zhou Heng found a few old newspapers, tore them haphazardly, and smeared them with paste through the cracks in the window. As soon as the paper was pasted on, gusts of wind outside began to blow upwards.

The wind caused the newspaper to flutter gently, as if something small was trying to lift it from underneath.

Wang Chengan carried the basin of cold water, pushed open the door, poured it in the corner of the yard, and when he came back, he didn't forget to add more salt to the few grains of salt on the threshold.

Xu Erxiao simply brought over the bag of salt, squatted down at the door, and grabbed handfuls of it from the ground, making the threshold area look white and fluffy, like it had been sprinkled with frost.

After tidying up the room, the chilly atmosphere was indeed reduced by a few points.

But Lu Yuan didn't relax at all.

He stood in the center of the room, looking down at the ground as if listening to something. After a moment, he slowly squatted down and put his ear close to the floor tiles.

It was very quiet underground.

Yet, hidden within that stillness was a very subtle movement.

Like something deep in the soil, slowly retreating inch by inch.

It shrank extremely slowly and carefully, like an insect being pushed back in, or like a fetus that had just opened one eye, quietly withdrawing its breath.

"It's still there."

Lu Yuan said in a low voice.

"What's still there?"

Wang Chengan asked hurriedly.

Lu Yuan raised his head, his gaze deepening: "It's not dead."

"They just retreated a bit too far."

"The real bed underneath, we just pushed it back down, but it remembers the house's craftsmanship, the abacus, and the road it owes us."

"Tonight's battle is only going well for us; it still needs to advance further."

Everyone who heard this felt a pang of guilt.

Now I really understand.

It's not something that ends after being beaten, nor does it bring peace once suppressed. This thing was raised in the ground for many years, and it has long since developed its own temperament.

It's like a starving animal, barely tasting the flavor of blood and smelling the breath of life, and sooner or later it will return to the gate, the ground, and people's hearts.

Lu Yuan didn't say anything more, but simply placed the short sword on the table. The back of the sword hit the tabletop with a soft thud.

"Don't panic."

"Let's get through this night first."

"The most important thing right now is not whether it will come back or not, but that we don't panic."

After he finished speaking, the people in the room finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the wind outside still tried to get through the cracks in the door.

The lights flickered, and the shadows outside the door sometimes brightened and sometimes dimmed.

The old bungalows in the courtyard were quiet, with only the occasional low cough coming from one of the rooms, followed by silence.

The already cramped open space in the government compound was filled with piles of boulders, stacks of firewood, clotheslines, and old bicycles, all shrouded in the hazy night, like a piece of Japanese art that had long since lost its luster.

Lu Yuan knew that the real troubles for the emperor might not even be this night.

Iron Abacus is dead, but the thread behind it hasn't been completely severed.

Whether it's the face outside the door or the eyeball on the ground, they're just a few claws scouting ahead.

Once they've calmed down, the next time they bang on the door, it might not just be their face.

Thinking of Wu, Lu Yuan looked up at the people in the Mukden house, and finally fixed his gaze on the Mukden white salt stick at the door. His voice was low but very clear: "Tonight, no one should sleep soundly."

"If you hear any noise outside the door, don't stick your head out."

"Call me first."

After those words were spoken inside the room, everyone tensed up.

Wang Chengan was the first to respond. Although he didn't say much, his hands were busy.

He found an old enamelware pot, poured half a millet of water into it, placed it on the side of the table, and moved two stools behind the door to temporarily block the passage.

Although Kang knew that Zhenzi was in trouble, this little thing was of little use, but when people are busy at this time, they feel a little more at ease.

Zhou Heng was even more direct, simply lifting Tie Suanpan's dangling heels up the staff again.

They tied the sacred rope to the wall and nailed the staff, fearing that the corpse might slip and its heels might touch the ground, causing it to turn around and attract some dirty road magic.

Xu Erxiao stood guard at the door, half-squatting and half-kneeling as he smeared the last bit of salt into the crack in the door.

The salt wasn't sprinkled thick enough; a white ring appeared outside the threshold, like a layer of frost.

But he didn't stop, applying the ointment again and again, muttering under his breath, "Don't come out, don't come out—I'm not very capable either, but don't pick on me, I'll go too."

Song Qinghe sat at the table, holding the lamp steadily in her hand, but she dared not relax her expression.

Although she was a young woman and had seen her share of troubles, the presence of the old man with the dark side of the house and the face of the treacherous man hanging outside made her extremely nervous.

She pursed her lips, her gaze involuntarily drifting towards Lu Yuan, as if the only thing holding the room together was that he was still standing there.

Lu Yuan, however, did not rush to give any further instructions.

He picked up the short righteousness from the table stand, wiped the dirt off the righteousness with a cloth, and then picked up the black wooden plaque that had been broken earlier, and examined it closely under the lamp.

The white grain at the broken edge of the wooden sign had stopped bulging outwards, but the grain was still there.

Fine and dense, layer upon layer, like countless shrunken sheets of human skin, silently adhering to the wood.

The deepest black dot remained embedded like an ink spot, impossible to dissolve.

Lu Yuan stared for a while, then suddenly spoke: "Lin Zhaoxuan."

"Yes." Lin Zhaoxuan, who had been standing guard by the door, immediately responded when he heard his name called.

"Come and take a look, what does this break look like?"

Lin Zhaoxuan took a few steps closer, looked at it in the lamplight, frowned, and then said in a deep voice, "It looks like—it looks like a shrunken face."

"Yes." Lu Yuan nodded. "This is not ordinary wood grain."

"These veins were nurtured by someone using their own life force."

"This card wasn't just buried in the ground back then; it wasn't just used to mark the way, but also to remember the route."

"It's just that old bastard Tiesuanpan didn't tell us the whole story."

After these words were spoken, everyone in the room fell silent for a moment.

Lu Yuan raised his eyes and slowly said, "He's dead, his words are gone, but his shame is not."

"Besides the abacus, the face at the entrance, and the eyeball on the ground, there should be another one in this place."

"We haven't truly closed the door until that Mutou bandit comes out."

"And there are Mumu heads?" Zhou Heng was stunned. "You mean—there are other things?"

"It's not something else," Lu Yuandao said. "It's a different section of road."

"Evil things swear an oath, and will not follow only one path."

"It lacks the skill of speaking in the middle, with the head outside the door, the head on the ground, and the ability to switch breaths between different parts."

"What the iron abacus guards and what we bet on is only half of this skill."

"The real clue may lie elsewhere."

Upon hearing this, Wang Cheng'an's expression changed slightly: "Then what are we going to do? We've already gotten ourselves into this mess, and it's still not over?"

Lu Yuan didn't answer immediately, but looked at the broken black wooden card several times, and finally suddenly handed the card to Lin Zhaoxuan.

"Take it."

"Wait until the door rings again. Don't make a move yet. Look at the black spot on this card first."

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"The black dot is bulging outwards, and the bottom part is swearing."

"The black dot is shrinking inwards, indicating that someone is trying to cut in front of the gate."

"If they get desperate, we'll take advantage of their weaknesses and counterattack."

Lin Zhaoxuan solemnly accepted it and nodded.

"Kang Bai".

The sky outside had completely darkened by then.

"rustle----"

The sound wasn't loud, but it was very rhythmic, as if someone was deliberately walking quietly, afraid of disturbing the people inside.

Lu Yuan's gaze immediately returned to its original direction. His fingers tapped on the windowsill as he whispered, "There are people outside."

The people inside immediately looked up.

"Don't make a sound."

Lu Yuan said, "Listen first."

The footsteps drew closer, but there was no doorway; they only paused at the end of the courtyard path.

Then, it sounded like someone whispered something, but you couldn't hear it through the window paper; you could only hear a muffled nasal sound.

Then, the person seemed to turn in another direction and slowly moved away.

The people inside breathed a sigh of relief and then each kept watch.

Night gradually deepened.

The wind was gentle outside, and the old tree branches supporting the courtyard wall swayed softly in the shadows, occasionally brushing against the newspapers by the window, making a very faint "rustling" sound.

The room was dimly lit, the flames steadily licking the wick, casting a yellowish hue on people's faces, as if covered by a layer of old paper.

Time passed slowly, and no one spoke ill of each other anymore.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly there was a sound outside the door again.

This time it wasn't footsteps, nor was it knocking on the door.

Instead, it was an extremely soft rustling sound, like someone slowly scraping the back of the door panel with their fingernails.

"Snap!"

The moment that voice rang out, everyone in the room felt a chill run down their spines.

Lu Yuan raised his eyelids, his hand already resting on the short righteous handle.

"They're here."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was as hard as nails.

"Don't move."

The oil lamp in the room flickered gently, then suddenly lowered its flame.

Outside the door, the face imprint that had been blurred by black ash slowly resurfaced.

Although the facial features were still not clearly visible, there was a faint, indistinct eye in the wood grain, as if it were peering quietly into the room through the door.

Lu Yuan stared at the slight change, and a slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Cheng'an."

"Bring me the salt bowl."

Wang Chengan responded very quickly, reaching out to take the small bowl from the table.

Lu Yuan took it, flicked his wrist, and with a splash, poured the entire bowl of salt onto the base of the door.

The salt fell to the ground, and a short, muffled thud came from outside the door.

"Chirp!"

It looked like something had been burned, and it quickly pulled back.

The face imprint on the wooden cane also twisted, and deep within the wood grain, it seemed as if Muxia Yi had lost his breath, his entire face quickly sinking inward.

Lu Yuan sneered and said in a low voice, "Trying to use the Oath Gate to judge people?"

"You haven't even crossed the threshold yet, and I'm already scalding your mouth with salt."

But as soon as he finished speaking, the white light that had been suppressed from the ground also jumped very lightly at that moment.

仫下.

Then he descended.

It's like the eye below is trying to lift its head again, following the sounds coming from outside the door.

Lu Yuan's expression instantly turned grim.

"They really are connected."

He slowly said, "Once you step back outside the door, the examination will begin below."

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"Those outside enter, and those below follow."

Lin Zhaoxuan gripped the broken black wooden plaque tightly and said in a low voice, "Then let's not let them fight again."

Lu Yuan didn't speak, but slowly pulled the short sword out half an inch, the blade gleaming coldly under the lamplight.

The atmosphere inside the room suddenly became tense again.